Photograph of Truce Participants

World War I (1914-1918), or the Great War! was meant to be "the war to end all wars" an dled to the death or wounding of 25 million people. It was the first true intercontinental conflict and introduced other firsts to the world of warfare: large-scale mechanical and chemical weapons and the aerial bombing of both soldiers and civilians, among other tragic innovations. Slaughter is a word long associated with the massive death toll among the men stuck in miles of unmoving trenches.

On Christmas Eve in 1914, German soldiers in Ypres, Belgium, began singing Christmas carols and lighting small Christmas trees. As Christmas Day dawned, Germans called out to their British enemies not to shoot them, as they approached their trenches. The British feared a trick, but seeing that the Germans were unarmed, climbed out of their own trenches. The enemy combatants shook hands, exchanged cigarettes, sweets, and other small luxuries, and quickly established an informal truce. The truce manifested in similar ways up and down a great portion of the trench lines on the Western Front: hesitant men shouted greetings, sang songs, and lobbed gifts at each other, before eventually setting aside their fears and differences to meet face to face. Some places relaxed enough to play an informal game of soccer. The truce primarily engaged British and German troops; it appeared to be widespread, though not total. Both sides took advantage of the peaceful hours to recover and bury the dead that lay in No-Man’s land.

Though participants wrote home about the truce with wonder and delight, officers and even many soldiers on both sides were horrified by the cessation of hostilities. They made sure it didn’t happen again, but it remained a treasured memory for those who enjoyed that strange, brief period of peace.

Royal Dublin Fusiliers With German Soldiers on St. Stephen's Day 1914, Courtesy Imperial War Museum

2nd. Lieutenant Cyril Drummond, 135th Battery, Royal Field Artillery.

"On Boxing Day we walked up to the village of St. Yvon where the observation post was. I soon discovered that places where we were usually shot at were quite safe. There were the two sets of front trenches only a few yards apart, and yet there were soldiers, both British and German, standing on top of them, digging or repairing the trench in some way, without ever shooting at each other. It was an extraordinary situation.

In the sunken road I met an officer I knew, and we walked along together so that we could look across to the German front line, which was only about seventy yards away. One of the Germans waved to us and said, "Come over here!" We said, "You come over here if you want to talk." So he climbed out of his trench and came over towards us. We met and very gravely saluted each other. He was joined by more Germans, and some of the Dublin Fusiliers from our own trenches came over to join us. No German officer came out, it was only the ordinary soldiers. We talked, mainly in French, because my German was not very good and none of the Germans could speak English well. But we managed to get together all right. One of them said, "We don't want to kill you and you don't want to kill us, so why shoot?"

They gave me some German tobacco and German cigars - they seemed to have plenty of those, and very good ones too - and they asked whether we had any jam. One of the Dublin Fusiliers got a tin of jam which had been opened, but very little taken out, and he gave it to a German who gave him two cigars for it. I lined them all up and took a photograph"

"Point 63. Quiet day. Relieved 2 RDF (Royal Dublin Fusiliers) in the trenches in the evening. Germans shout over to us and ask us to play them at football, and also not to fire and they would do likewise," the entry in his diary for December 24 reads.

He also describes how a German band sing Home Sweet Home and God Save the King, much to the amusement of the British troops who start feeling nostalgic about their home back in England.

"At 2am (25th) a German Band went along their trenches playing Home Sweet Home and God Save the King, which sounded grand and made everyone think of home. The music sounded grand and made everyone think of home," the Daily Mail quoted his diary as saying.

"During the night, several of our fellows went over "No Man's Land" to German lines and was given drink and cigars.

"25 December - 'Trenches St Yves. Christmas Day. Not one shot was fired. English and German soldiers intermingled and exchanged souvenirs.

Germans very eager to exchange almost anything for our "Bully Beef" and jam. Majority of them know French fluently. A few men of the regiment assisted in burying the dead of the Somerset Light Infantry who were killed on 19.12.14. Fine frosty day. Very cold," the dairy says.

"26 December - Trenches St Yves. Unofficial truce kept up and our own fellows intermingled still with the Germans. No rifle shots fired, but our artillery fired a few rounds on the German 3rd and 4th lines and Germans retaliated with a few rounds on D Coys (Company's) trenches. 2 wounded. '27 December - 'Trenches St Yves. No sniping. A few "whiz bangs" on D Coys trenches. 1 wounded.' On December-30, RSM Beck receives a rare treat - a bath and a change of clothes as he and his men move on to La Creche'," the diary further says.

According to his account, the truce was observed for several days afterwards, with soldiers on both sides showing reluctance to open fire on the men whom they had met face to face only a few days back.

According to the paper, the army also used the ceasefire as an opportunity to retrieve the bodies of some of their fallen soldiers from no man's land.

According to records, Beck, of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, survived the war and passed on his diary - beautifully handwritten in pencil in a ruled notebook - to his family.